Android’s file structure is so incomprehensible. I’m genuinely surprised there hasn’t been any significant effort made to make it more readable. Pictures saved in app directories, downloads, camera, images, pictures, media, DCIM???.
I’m genuinely surprised there hasn’t been any significant effort made to make it more readable.
Quite the opposite. They’ve tried to make it better, and in turn, they’ve made it worse.
They used to have a pretty straightforward Linux file structure, and you were expected to put things in the external Pictures folder. And downloads went to the external Downloads folder. Back then, internal storage was small and SDs were large, so apps couldn’t really afford to store these things locally and the SD structure was well enough defined that it was pretty clear where pictures would go.
Now, Google has pushed against SD cards. They also started requiring more permissions for external storage. They’ve added some “documents” APIs that were supposed to make it easier to tag/find files, but it’s a tangled mess and most apps don’t touch it. And they’ve rewritten their storage model multiple times at this point. If you’re writing a new app, it’s unclear which model to even follow anymore because Google has created a giant cluster fuck of options and paradigms.
Google is actively making this problem worse and worse. I wish they had never tried to “fix” this in the first place.
Open source developer and Linux enthusiast here. Although cluttered, Android’s home directory is fairly simple to understand
The nightmare begins when you take a look at the root filesystem.
One time I was trying to port an OS to my phone and I had to figure out the Android init system. Went to source.android.com and what. the. fuck. Just as a side-by-side comparison:
Linux boot sequence: Android boot sequence (unmodded, SIMPLE):
There are so many wrong things about it like why are there 11, 12 places to put programs (/system/bin, /bin, /usr/bin /system/usr/bin, /sbin, /system/usr/share/bin…)
Why the fuck drivers are scattered around folders instead of just /lib/modules
Why is the home directory /storage/emulated/0/ instead of just /home/0/ (also why the user is named “0”)
Where the fuck is everything???
God (Linus Torvalds) forgive me but even Windows is better than that shit
i wonder if that graphic is up to date with system as root and A/B dynamic partitioning and whatever crazy new bullshit google invents with every release
I raise you all of these monstrosities:
- Phones launching with Android 13 without a dedicated partition for recovery mode
- Phones launching with Android 13 with two dedicated partitions for recovery mode (two because of A/B partitioning scheme)
- Phones launching with Android 13 with one dedicated partition for recovery mode (only one because A/B partitioning scheme is not used)
- Phones that launch with or upgrade to Android 12, that use a generic kernel image, without a dedicated partition for recovery mode
- Phones that launch with or upgrade to Android 12, that use a generic kernel image, with two dedicated partitions for recovery mode (A/B partitioning scheme)
- Phones that launch with or upgrade to Android 12, that use a generic kernel image, with one dedicated partition for recovery mode (non-A/B partitioning scheme)
- Phones that upgrade to Android 12, that does not use a generic kernel image, with no dedicated partition for recovery mode
- Phones that upgrade to Android 12, that does not use a generic kernel image, with dedicated partition(s) for recovery mode
In Android’s defense however, a phone would likely use only one of these layouts at a time. The question of which of these layouts does a said phone uses though, that’s a more complicated question.
It’s a graph, showing a red oval with the text “Linux Kernel”, an arrow points from the red oval to a light-green oval titled “Init”.
“Linux Kernel” --→ “Init”
Android’s file structure is bad, yes. But does iOS even have a file structure? In my very limited time using iOS, I couldn’t find anything resembling a file explorer.
we had a ducking sane file structure on symbian. Before apple knew what smartphone means. We had sane file structure on siemens phones.
There’s no excuse for the unholy abomination of what manufacturers call an “operating system” on a smartphone these days.
Peak symbian was the sony ericsson p1i.
Had a gf throw that thing against a cinder block wall, off a concrete floor, and basically explode everywhere. i picked upthe parts, snapped it back together, turned it back on and left.
I really raeg when someone says “apple invented the smartphone” like let me kill you know and save myself the anguish of wishing i had
I had a Kyocera 6035, literally the first commercially available smartphone. Ran PalmOS. (It’s literally my picture on the WP page for it) 2001, a few months before the iPod, never mind the iPhone.
It does have a files app now and it’s so good compared to Android file apps right now
android has no official “files” app though?
google files is a technically a 3rd party app and the AOSP files app is usually hidden and used only as a file picker.
Isn’t that because Android is system agnostic?
Been a while since I used a true bare stock Android device. G1 must have had a file explorer though right?
Files are soo outdated. The user should not have to worry about “Files”. What even is a " Directory"? Your nudes are on some guys computer in california but the world is in your hand. there is an app for everything, just use the apps, go with the flow, look at lots of ads, buy a tesla, tell your dirty secrets to google bard — everything is intuitive…
Download completed…
Files>downloads>empty 😔
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